Getachew Abdi
Ministry of Water Resources, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia IntroductionTable 1. Comparison of selected indicators.2
| Selected indicators | Ethiopia | Low income countries |
| GNP per capita | US$ 91.5 | US$ 360 |
| Life expectancy (LE) | 49 Years | 56 Years |
| Adult illiteracy | 65% | 46% |
Figure 1 shows the trend of water supply coverage of selected African countries as compared to Ethiopia. The gross national product (GNP) increase to more than US$ 300 to cross the 50% coverage line set to be the global target for the poor.
Figure 1. Trend of water supply coverage for selected African countries.
CSA (1998) statistics3 reported that in rural areas, less than 15% of the people had access to safe water. The difficulty in finding appropriate water sources coupled with scattered settlement patterns and nomadic lifestyles significantly influence the opportunity to increase and sustain access to water for the rural population.
This study is aimed at finding solutions to the anticipated problems that were hindering sustainability in four pilot regions, i.e. Amhara, Benshangul, Oromiya and Southern Regions where access to water supply has declined as per CSA (1994) and CSA (1998) data. Physical resources base
The major issues in the Ethiopian rural water supply intervention are the following:
The study based on the actual conditions of the 40 typical schemes surveyed in the four sample regions has proved that the problems of rural water supply reliability fall under:
The study further indicates that the software and hardware aspects of rural water supply are not treated in a balanced manner. This has an adverse effect as population is increasing at 3% and sanitation is at a virtually non-existent situation. The study also highlights that social work incorporating sanitation awareness, birth control, gender, community ownership and management that addresses these problems to the grassroot level shall soon be launched thereby ensuring the reliability of access to safe water sources. Neglecting software aspects is putting a snare that thwart the relentless effort of some regions that have partially succeeded in constructing relatively larger number of schemes.5.
The initial objective of this study is the building of community management models that could contribute to the strengthening of management at scheme level thereby ensuring improved reliability of water supply service in the four selected regions.
The ultimate objective is the replication of findings to other regions in order to improve access to water supply through community management at a national level.
Accordingly, three-fold partnership amongst the community, as owners of the schemes, the government as the creator of enabling environment and ESAs, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and donors as support organisations is presupposed to achieve sustainability.
The methodology of the study included the following:
The analyses has shown that emphasis on:
The analyses has shown that emphasis on:
Sustainability performances of the typical schemes in Amhara, Oromiya, Benshangul and Southern regions have displayed a correlation of high order. Therefore more or less similar scheme level management models can be prepared for the four sample regions.
As shown in Figure 2, performances in financial, energy water resources and social aspects was found to range between 20 and 35% while the technical performance for the average regional performance was found to be about 60%. Increasing the performance from 20% to more than 50% for financial performance and 60% to about 80% for technical performance requires huge resources as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Combined sustainability performance.5
In harmony to the findings, community management models that can address the software and hardware aspects in a balanced manner are developed as shown in the two options below. Option 1 (Figure 3) makes use of woreda council, co-operative Watsan committee and village water committees among others.
Figure 3. Watsan committee structure (Option 1).5
Option 2 (Figure 4) encourages public–private partnership by involving artisans, small-scale independent providers (SsiPs), individuals, garage owners etc. Figure 4. Watsan committee structure (Option 2).5 Moreover it would be worthwhile to introduce an organisational structure that looks as the one shown in Figure 5 below in order to have good co-ordination at all levels.
Option 2 (Figure 4) encourages public–private partnership by involving artisans, small-scale independent providers (SsiPs), individuals, garage owners etc.
Figure 4. Watsan committee structure (Option 2).5
Moreover it would be worthwhile to introduce an organisational structure that looks as the one shown in Figure 5 below in order to have good co-ordination at all levels.
Figure 5. Proposed organisational chart.5
As a supporting exercise manpower that are required to provide safe water to 71% of the rural population by the year 2015 were estimated and shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6. Scheme and manpower requirements to increase coverage from 23–71% by the year 2015.1
The financial requirement as per the Water Sector Development Program is more than US$ 2 billion ascertaining the need for cost sharing mechanisms as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7. Investment requirement (in US$ × 106) up to the year 2015 to increase coverage from 23–71%.1
The enormous financial and manpower requirements as shown in the above figures portray that changing the low economic profile through integrated development is a prerequisite to such an undertaking.
Appropriate technology and use of renewable energy
The huge resource requirement calls for the utilisation of appropriate technology and renewable energy that focuses on shallow wells, springs, VLOM hand pumps, windmills, solar pumps etc.Rural water supply (RWS) fund model
In early 2002, the water resources fund designed for urban water supply and irrigation was established in Ethiopia. Rural water supply that is put aside for government investment would require a fund model as shown in Figure 8 if a considerable improvement is required.5
Figure 8. Rural water supply (RWS) fund model.
Figure 9 summarises how sustainability could be achieved in Ethiopia. The figure considers sustainability as a continuous cyclical process. The more the cyclical process the better the sustainable and reliable water supply services would become.
Figure 9. Sustainability process.
Technically, the launching of adaptive research and development in the water sector that enables the utilisation and provision of appropriate technology, VLOM pumps and spare parts at an affordable rate is required.
In conclusion a dedicated effort that involves community empowerment, full-scale community participation and the mobilisation of all stakeholders in integrated development with water as a focal point is required to improve access to reliable rural water supply services in Ethiopia.
Water Sector Development Program (WSDP) Reports, Ministry Of Water Resources, Addis Ababa , Ethiopia, 2002
World Development Report, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA. 1996.
CSA Statistics, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1998.
Summary Report on Water Availability, ESP component 3, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 2000.
Getachew Abdi, (Feb., 2002), Management Aspects of Rural Water Supply Sustainability in Ethiopia, MSc Thesis, IHE, Delft, The Netherlands.